A unifying theoretical framework for clinical psychology

Clinical psychology lacks a theoretical framework through which to interpret and apply research findings. This comment explains the theoretical framework of ethology, a discipline that is extinct in the United States. Ethologists, Lorenze and Tinbergen developed behavioral systems theory as a means to place the proximal causes of behaviors within the context of adaptive goals. This comment asserts there are four adaptive goals that motivate human social behavior: attachment/affiliation, caregiving, dominance and sex. Tinbergen developed the 4 questions of ethology as a complete explanation for behavior. The articles in this volume are discussed in terms of behavioral systems theory and the 4 questions of ethology.

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